Press

Lion’s Roar and Buddhadharma’s 12th Online Auction is underway to support their nonprofit endeavors. I am donating a signed copy of ‘Shimmering Zen’ to be auctioned. The art in the book is inspired by vintage neon signs of Las Vegas and the concept of Indra’s net.

It has been described as the intersection of Las Vegas and Buddhism. The digital images are intricate, detail-dense, neatly symmetrical, abstract, mandala-like. Most often they’re layers of details cropped from historic photos of Vegas signage and architecture.

Stanford uses the iconic vintage signage of Las Vegas, where he spent his childhood at a time when the town was small and provincial, without access to global culture. His layered images reflect a mirrored geometry that unravels and then recomposes. > Read More

See where wonderment takes you. We are the universe’s way of knowing itself. – James Stanford

Contemporary artist James Stanford presents a new exhibition featuring kaleidoscopic photomontages of vintage LasVegas landmarks and its infamous neon signs. Heavily influenced by his native LasVegas,Stanford is an innovative artist who revisits the vibrant energy of 1960s Vegas.

In a new exhibition entitled Shimmering Zen, he will exhibit a range of intricate digital collages of original photographs that capture the city’s iconic aesthetic, its neon signs in particular. Drawing on his expertise as painter, photographer, professor of colour theory and pioneering advocate of new technologies in digital art, Stanford layers photographs to create and discover patterns in familiar yet completely revitalised images. Bold colours and intricate patterns create mesmerising designs.

Using a mix of traditional photography and digital techniques, Stanford’s works are made unique and compelling by vividly illuminated and moving networks and layers. Some of his works will be printed as backlit lenticulars, taking on a new and shimmering life.

Of his work, Stanford comments, “When you open up your mind, you become so full of this one vision, everything becomes pure energy, pure light. So, that’s what it is: that’s Shimmering Zen” > Read More

Heavily influenced by his native Las Vegas roots and surroundings, Stanford is an innovative artist who revisits the vibrant energy of 1960s Vegas with this collection. Entitled Shimmering Zen, he will feature a range of intricate digital collages of original photographs that capture the city’s iconic aesthetic and particularly its neon signs. Some of the pieces include The Neon Museum, Fremont Street, Fong’s Garden and the Circus Circus, Flamingo, Golden Nugget, Tropicana, Caesars Palace and Binion’s properties.

Stanford’s use of traditional photography and digital techniques make his Shimmering Zen work unique and compelling. Drawing on his expertise as a painter, photographer, professor of colour theory and pioneering advocate of new technologies in digital art, he layers photographs to create and discover patterns in familiar, yet completely revitalised, images with bold colors and intricate patterns that create mesmerising designs.

Shimmering Zen also reflects Stanford’s continued interest in transforming reality into imagined realms. As an artist, he is concerned with the development of a visual expression of spirituality. Drawing on the ancient traditions of Buddhism, he conceives his digital montages as “modern mandalas” – maps toward inner zen. His work responds to the potency of the “mandala” as a symbol and its influence and importance to cultures worldwide.